High school English books feature writers from the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s. The poet Langston Hughes is a member of the royalty of the movement and he once visited Orange for a reading.
He came to Salem Methodist Church during World War II to help raise money for what the local newspaper described as “the proposed Negro USO building.”
His visit was important enough to be noted, but no details of his reading and appearance were reported.
However a reference by another noted black writer leaves a mystery. Dr. Margaret Walker Alexander (below), in a speech reported on Southern Cultures.org said “Whenever I think of Langston now I see a great collage and montage of all the places we were together and all the books he wrote and his reading poetry in so many different places…a night in Orange, Texas, spilling a drink on my dress and saying you look like something straight out of Vogue.”
The local paper, the Orange Leader, did not say whether Alexander was reading her works with Hughes at the church. She may have because stories report they appeared across the country for public readings. Or perhaps that night in Orange was simply an overnight stay on their travels by car.
Hughes was born in 1902 and died in 1967. The Poetry Foundation reports he was the first black American to earn his living solely from his writing and public lectures.
The Leader on April 12, 1945, had a front page headline “Negro Poet Speaks Here Tonight at Salem Methodist.” The country was segregated at the time and newspapers serving predominately white communities noted the race of someone who was not Caucasian.
The story reads “Tonight Langston Hughes, Negro poet, writer, lecturer will appear in person at the Salem Methodist Church located at the corner of Third and John streets at eight o’clock to speak on ‘Color Around the World.’
“A very limited number of his books will be for sale and each person purchasing one may have it autographed by the author.”
The book was “Not Without Laughter,” which was the writer’s first novel.
Salem United Methodist Church today is still at the same location. The church this week is celebrating its 152nd anniversary. The city director for 1944 reports the pastor at the time was the Reverend Adam D. Phelps.
The local Negro USO Committee which was sponsoring the reading had L.C. Thomas as chair, Solomon Johnson as secretary, Charles Rosenthal as treasurer, Gertie Hubert as senior hostess and Katie Sparrow as junior hostess.
Orange grew to an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 people during World War II as three shipyards produced defense vessels. Shifts worked 24 hours a day. Sailors also filled the town to pick up the ships to sail into the war. The same edition of the paper reported the city had 101 births in the month of March.
A large USO club for white members stood on 13th Street at Cypress Avenue where the Orange Natatorium is today. But because of segregation, the black sailors and military members did not have a regular place to socialize.
Hughes addressed the segregated world in many of his works, including a short play written during the war years. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes has the play featuring “Jim Crow,” the name for the segregation laws. “Crow: CAW CAW. Hostess: The chamber of commerce has now building for a Negro USO. Narrator: For the sake of America, let’s stop that infernal caw, caw, CAW, CAW.”
Margaret Walker (Alexander) was born in 1915 and died in 1998. Her 1942 collection of poetry entitled “For My People” won the Yale Series of Younger Poets Competition. The Poetry Foundation website said she was the first black woman to receive a national writing prize.
She went on to earn a doctor of philosophy degree and taught at Jackson State University in Mississippi for 30 years. Her 1966 novel, “Jubilee,” was a critical and financial success.
Whether she spoke with Hughes at the church, is unknown. But she always remembered a night in Orange, Texas.
If anyone has memories or a program or book from Hughes’ reading at Salem Methodist, please contact Margaret Toal at KOGT, 409-883-4381.
Social Media